Alyssa Cole is one of my very favorite romance authors. Period. When I found out she had a thriller coming out I was highly anticipating this book. This book was fantastic. It is definitely a social thriller. The slow burn is a testament to how well this author builds suspense.

I really enjoyed the well written, fleshed out characters.

The story is realistic, one you could see on any street in any town in America.

Highly recommend this book !

I only read about 50% of the book. I can't get past the cussing and the characters seem so angry. I feel some of the characters are stereotyped. I'm sure many people will enjoy this book, but it's just not for me.

A thrilling, horrifying story about how gentrification and racial microaggressions (and full on aggression) wreak havoc and violence on Black and primarily POC communities. This an especially important read for white folx, as it details the many ways in which Black folx especially face racism and harassment in their communities. I thought the inclusion of a Nextdoor-like app was well-done, really grounding the story into the present. Cole is a fantastic writer, and I found myself engrossed in the story immediately.

I thought the dual POVs were an interesting idea; however, I felt that Theo's POV was not that necessary. There were a few times where his POV contributed to revealing a "twist," but Sydney's POV chapters were the strongest and most important parts of the book in my opinion. This was a slow-burn thriller for the majority of the book, which made the climactic ending feel very rushed. I do wish that the final twist and unveiling had begun a bit earlier, instead of in the last 30 or so pages. I had a lot of questions at the end (particularly about Sydney's neighbors), which I would've liked to learn more about.

Overall, I did like this book; I am a big fan of Alyssa Cole's romance series and I am thrilled to read more of her work in new genres!

Maybe 2.5 stars? This was just okay for me. I loved the premise and the characters were interesting enough, and I appreciated Alyssa Cole’s efforts to write a diverse thriller about gentrification, but that’s where the pros end for me.

The pacing was too slow the entire time, and this just wasn’t thrilling enough to be a thriller. Also, the plot was very predictable IMO. I was able to guess what the “big plot twist” was going to be by like the 30% mark, and the villains of the story ended up being stereotypical evil white people. I just wanted more depth/complexity to their characters to make the story more interesting.

Definitely disappointed with this one, but I am interested in checking out Alyssa Cole’s other works soon.

**Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review**

“They wanted us to destroy everything, so they could come in and fix it”

Y’all know that Tituss Burgess gif where Tituss jumps back in shock? That’s me at When No One is Watching. This book was wild with some great twists. The scariest part? It’s how realistic most of this can happen with gentrification.

Can I petition for Kim to be the new Karen? Cause this Kim is trash. Every sentence was cringe worthy. There are real life Kims living in gentrified neighborhoods right this minute spewing the SAME. EXACT. HATE.

Also, Sydney Green is THAT protagonist. She’s strong, she’s determined, she’s quick witted and smarter than anyone else in the room. I am here for it. Some of her narration had me laughing, especially her Uber scene because I’ve said the same thing about a cancelled driver AND a Yankees fan..

I really enjoyed this book. I loved how the characters learned about their history and the socioeconomic part of the neighborhood.

This one is out September 1st. Thank you William Morrow & NetGalley for the gifted copy. ❤️

Alyssa Cole makes a romance/thriller like none I've ever read before. What starts off as a conversation about the main character's neighborhood in Brooklyn going through gentrification, ends up feeling like you lived through multiple stories, and you're afraid to see what's behind the next closed door. This had me on the edge of my seat, and yes it started off slow, but the build-up to the "action" was well planned and thought out. It didn't help that a romance was thrown into the mix to help show both Sydney and Theo as complex characters, that anyone could really know. Highly recommend this one!

This book is set in modern-day Brooklyn and is a thriller that shows the horrors of gentrification, racism, and had me anxious for the end the entire read. The story centers around Sydney, living in a neighborhood in Brooklyn and searching for answers as her neighbors leave faster than ever- so fast that it becomes apparent something is wrong. As her neighborhood changes and disappears before her eyes, Sydney finds more answers and enlists help from her neighbor Theo. Alyssa Cole also added in a background romance that is the perfect touch to this story. I would recommend this thriller for those who already love the author's romance novels. It was one of the most interesting books I read this year.

The scariest thing about this book is that it could really happen. I really enjoyed the historical elements of Brooklyn interwoven into this text as I thought I it gave it a lot of context and made the situation seem all the more real. I love the characters and I thought the bad guys were really well written.

This was a well done thriller that started off like an unexpected commentary on gentrification of black neighborhoods in Brooklyn. It kept getting stranger, with weird happenings, that just might could happen... until it turns straight up horror. But the basis is so close to what we hear everyday in the news... that’s the most terrifying thing. Highly recommend to those not afraid of losing a night of sleep.

This book is great not just because of the writing or the awesome characters, which it does, but because it feels very relevant to the times today. It is suspenseful and fun to read while also telling you something important.

I will say that it starts out pretty slow, but if you keep going, you will not be disappointed!

I look forward to reading more from this author! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this one.

You're not really a paranoid conspiracy theorist if all of it is true, right? This book is about gentrification and erasure, race and power, and the cyclical nature of history. I was riveted and finished the book in less than a day.

Sydney has returned to the neighborhood she grew up in to care for her ailing mother. The faces are familiar, the street is a friendly place with kids riding bikes, and people helping in the community garden. Then new neighbors come and the established families start to move away. The local businesses shutter their doors and reopen as trendy shops and hipster bars. Everything is changing at an ever faster pace.

Theo is one of the new people. He begins helping Sydney with research for an historic Brooklyn tour, where she will talk about the people who were there from the time before the Dutch and English settled to the present day. What they find bears striking similarities to what is happening around them. And what seemed at first to be an unfortunate gentrification that pushes out the people who lived there for years begins to look more and more sinister.

I really enjoyed this book. It is timely and kept me on the edge of my seat. My thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole sounded like a promising book, I found it so slow and not that all interesting. I couldn't connect with any of the characters. In fact, I could only make it through 55% of the novel before giving up and moving on to another book. The author used a lot of profanity that I just saw as useless and not at all helping the story along. I'm not usually such a prude on this but it was absolutely not necessary.
Special thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins-William Morrow Publishing and Alyssa Cole for the advance digital copy. I'm sorry this book just wasn't for me.
#WhenNoOneIsWatching #NetGalley

This book was a very interesting, thought provoking read. I read this as more of a mystery instead of thriller as most of the book and plot is giving the reader insight into the racial injustices those in the Black community face, and just like in the book things like this do happen and it isn't acknowledged and needs to be. This book has thought provoking, eye opening insight that was developed into a mystery. As a complete lover of thriller books, I was a little let down in this department when it came to reading this book since there wasn't much to twists and turns until the end and then it seemed to happen so fast and was over. The author Alyssa Cole does have superb writing, I just wouldn't label this as a thriller as the synopsis describes, although I can see the relation to the movie Get Out, it definitely can fall in line with it. This is a very good read especially for what is happening now in our country, very informative, and should be a topic of discussion to get other discussions going. This book does have something important to say, and any reader who is into a little mystery along with tying into current events should enjoy this book. I received this copy through Netgalley to give an honest review.

I loved Alyssa Cole's Reluctant Royals series, so when I saw she was doing a thriller, I had high expectations. She exceeded those expectations. I don't ever read thrillers, like ever, but this was amazing. I was drawn in the from the first page by Sydney's voice and devoured this in only a couple of days.

This is a fantastic creeping sense of dread that builds throughout the book. I love, love, love, that unsettling something is wrong feeling in movies and books. Sydney's emotions about her mother and her illness were a gut punch, and she feels homesick for a place she still inhabits, which resonated deeply for me, though for completely different reasons than Syndey's.

Theo was a wonderful, well-developed character. His voice was strong, and for the purposes of the themes explored in this novel, he was extremely well done in recognizing some of his own biases and prejudices. He comes from a bit of traumatic background and poverty, and I absolutely loved and respected the decision to have him come from some class oppressors and still show the ways he has white privilege and how he starts to realize that. It's such an important point that so many people miss in real life and the handling was masterful.

And, the ending. It blew me away. I won't give away any spoilers, but there was one big twist I didn't see coming. The climatic scene was beyond good and heart pounding. The story wraps up nicely, but there is room for more.

The comp to the movie Get Out is apt and definitely if you liked that movie, you're going to love this.

Highly recommend this to everyone, even if, like me, you don't normally read this genre.

I am a huge Alyssa Cole fan and she is one of my automatic authors to buy. So, I was super excited to receive this ARC from NetGalley and Harper Collins. This was an excellent Thriller. It gave me so much high anxiety that I kept needing to put it down to relive the tension. Sydney and Theo are both interesting flawed human beings and I enjoyed having their alternating points of view. The plot elements were made even more frightening by the cyclical historical aspect and the current US environment

I’m a huge fan of Alyssa Cole and was so excited to read a book in a new genre for her.

When No One is Watching starts out slowly, We get to know the neighborhood Gifford Place in Brooklyn and the people who live there. A primarily Black, historical neighborhood being over run by gentrification and real estate sharks. We meet our MC Sydney on a historic tour of the neighborhood…which seems to leave out the entire Black history of the neighborhood. Our other MC, Theo, is also on the tour with his toxic/racist fiancé.

Sydney is a stellar main character. She is complex, dealing with hard life issues and we get to see the fear she deals with all the time. Sydney also leads us on an amazing history lesson in Brooklyn. Sydney is trying to save her home and provide for her sick mother.

Sydney has an unlikely volunteer helping with her tour for the block party, her neighbor Theo. He and his Fiancé have all but broken up but are living together (in the home they bought together). Theo is out of work, poor and definitely recovering from a rough childhood/past. I love their connection and their ability to work together. I was routing for both of their characters so much by the end of the book.

Creepy Creepy things begin to happen. What makes it so creepy is that these things could happen in real life. Many of the racist events are examples of what Black people have to deal with all the time. Other things could happen to anyone. I’ve seen this book said to be like Get Out or something from the mind of Jordan Peele and that is very accurate. I felt so much fear and anger reading the book directed at the real world.

Twists and turns happen throughout the rest of the story. Some of them we can tell are about to happen or are happening. The pace picks up and we learn so many things going on around the neighborhood and with the characters. There are many great surprises and reveals with the MCs that I really enjoyed.

I didn’t want to put it down! Hoping Alyssa Cole graces us with more thrillers!

#WhenNoOneIsWatching #NetGalley

There are those that will love this novel, and I'm upset that I am not shouting its praises and planning to press this book into everyone's hands. Personal preference, I like the pace in my thrillers to be at an eleven, and this was definitely more haunting, with the threats steeped in shadow until the final act. In Cole's romance novels, we really get to know our characters, and I think this was lost in the dual perspective format of this narrative - I feel like we didn't get enough time in either perspective to delve into how our characters' experiences are reflected in their personalities.

I received this as an early review copy from NetGalley and William Morrow Paperbacks. All opinions are my own.

Alyssa Cole has polished her considerable skills by writing lively romances featuring African American characters. In her new novel, she delves into the category of romantic suspense, relying on standard genre tropes to propel the brisk plotline. The crime thriller aspect doesn't really kick in until well over half the book, but when it does, you will feel propelled into an eerie twisted "Get Out" narrative. Where Cole really shines is in the development of the relationship between our protagonists, Sydney and Theo. As they become entangled, Sydney educates Theo in the realities of being Black in America, as the story of ever increasing gentrification in their Brooklyn neighborhood moves forward. These characters are well developed, and the up front discussions and situations that reveal the realities of systemic racism are thoroughly refreshing. I commend Cole for speaking plainly about the history of white supremacy and racial violence, and doing so within an engaging and charming romance.

Topic is definitely on point in today’s world. Took a while to get into this book. Didn’t find it necessarily thrilling or suspenseful. Loved the neighborhood characters more than Sydney. She was kind of all over the place. Theo was ok. Book ended satisfactorily.

I'm a huge fan of Alyssa Cole and her romances so I was super excited to hear she'd written her first thriller. It definitely didn't disappoint. The characters and the slow build of the relationships were amazing and the subject matter was super timely. Hopefully this isn't the last thriller the author writes.